First Friendship

When I was 14 I started my sophomore year of high school in Woodland Hills at an all girls, private, catholic high school.

It was the first time I felt safe in my entire life. It was wonderful.

I had lost weight and grown two inches over the summer between my freshman and sophomore years and so I started the year with a lot of confidence and excitement. My mother was finally okay with my appearance, which was a huge relief for me.

On my very first day I was nervous, but excited, just like we all are. But at the end of the day I was given a huge gift of friendship.

I was walking out of my last class of the day, world history, and I was so excited with all that we would be learning, but a bit sad because no one had really talked to me all day. As I was walking down the walkway a girl called my name from behind me. She had just stepped out of the world history room and this cute, tall, brown haired girl was calling my name. I was surprised, stopped and turned to talk to her.

Her name is Andrea and she has been a friend to me for so many, many years. We lose touch for a bunch of years and then we talk again. It's nice and amazing to me.

No matter who else I was friends with in High School I was always also friends with Andrea. She is kind and generous and so easy to talk to. She introduced me to my soul mate and husband, so I will always be grateful to her for that along with the gift of her friendship.

So while my home life was a nightmare I always could count on Andrea and run to her house when needed. Her friendship has meant so much to me. She is also the person who took photos of my friendships through high school. Without her picture taking I would have many fewer physical reminders of those days. I've always been a terrible photo taker and an grateful for Andrea's prowess in this area.

So this is one of the good things that happened to me as a child. I made a good friend. I had never really  had one before and it was somewhat of a mystery to me as to how to navigate a true friendship. It was mostly Andrea being a good friend and keeping the lines of communication open or reaching out to me when I fell off the face of the earth.

From Andrea I learned that a big part of friendship is being there for someone  and reminding them when they forget.